Can paste be used on a leger rig? - Paul Garner

Paste can be used on rod and line, but for it to withstand the impact of hitting the water while being towed by a big lead it needs to be sticky.

This is easy to achieve, and there are several purpose-made paste mixes for this job. Follow the mixing instructions carefully with these baits, as the paste needs time to form strands of gluten that bind it together.

You can tell when the paste is ready to use as it will be almost stringy when you pull it apart.

A hair rig will also help you hook more fish when legering paste. Try moulding the bait around a paste cage, as this will keep it attached without impeding the hookpoint.

A paste cage on a hair rig is perfect for legering paste

How to make doughy cheesepaste with Paul Garner

Even when the water is really cold, Doughy cheesepaste stays pliable, making this my favourite recipe. A batch will last several weeks if you keep it cool between trips. Here is how to make it…

1: Carefully melt some blue cheese in a microwave set on half power for about 30 seconds.

2: Knead a fist-sized lump of dough until it has warmed up and softened.

3: Flatten the dough out and then spread the melted blue cheese on to it.

4: Sprinkle on a teaspoonful of Squid Powder and a tablespoonful of Parmesan.

5: Fold the paste in half and work it for five minutes until everything is evenly mixed.

Make it buoyant

1: With a bait drill bore a hole through a small piece of cork (wine bottle corks work fine)

2: Superglue the drilled cork to the shank of your hook, leaving the point well clear.

3: Fold a piece of cheesepaste over the hook and cork, covering them completely.

4: The finished bait – you can strike straight through it when a chub takes a bite.

For more great bait tips from Dr Paul Garner, pick up the magazine each Tuesday!

How to use paste

With its soft texture, instant attraction and awesome fish-pulling power, paste is one of THE best summer carp baits.

G.O.T Baits’ Gary Thorpe shows you how to get the best from it…

Having predicted a catch of well over 100lb by three o’clock, it looked like Gary Thorpe would achieve this goal in half that time.

With his swim almost solid with feeding carp catching them was easy, with hardly a minute going by before his elastic was at its fullfighting stretch.

But what had worked the fish into such a feeding frenzy?

The answer was a simple one – it was Gary’s paste bait.

Neglected by many, and wrongly dismissed by others as being too fiddly to prepare or impossible to keep on the hook, paste is a fabulous bait in the right hands.

In fact, Gary believes the anglers who aren’t willing to give paste a chance are making a mistake that’ll cost them a lot of fish.

And who would argue with one of the greatest paste anglers in the country and the current World five hour match record holder with a haul of 490lb 8oz of carp?

HOW TO MAKE GARY'S PASTE

Gary makes his hookbait up from G.O.T Baits ‘The Ton Up Paste’ powder.

“I prefer to make my paste from a powder because I can make it as stiff or as soft as I want with the addition of more water, or by adding less in the first place,” explained Gary.

“The trouble with readymade pastes is that you are stuck with what you are given, the majority of which are too stiff in my opinion.

“Don’t get me wrong, ready-made paste has its place, it’s great at close range on the waggler, but for pole fishing I like powdered paste that I mix soft.”

STEP ONE

Empty the contents of the bag into a suitable mixing bowl or bait tub.

STEP TWO

Start adding water to the mix a little at a time and mix the two together with your fingertips.

STEP THREE

The mix should become wetter. Leave it to stand for 15 minutes to enable the powder to fully absorb the water.

STEP FOUR

The paste is now ready for fishing with. Ideally it should be quite soft but just firm enough to grip the hook.

SETTING UP AND KICK STARTING THE SWIM

We joined Gary at peg 32 on the prolific Alders’ Farm Fishery Match Lake, where he was setting up a pole and the rest of his tackle for the day ahead.

It was a balmy, overcast summer day, with a light southwesterly wind causing an inviting ripple to form across the water.

All over the lake there were carp leaping clear of the water, just like returning salmon on a great Scottish river.

“Looks like we should have a few,” said Gary.

Hooking a rig on to a top-three kit of his pole, Gary added just three more sections to take the pole to six metres.

“I like to fish close in when I’m fishing with paste because it makes things so much easier,” said Gary. “The further out you fish, the further you have to bring the pole back, should you miss a bite or your paste falls off.”

At this distance, Gary plumbs the depth straight ahead of him and explores elsewhere in the swim to the left and the right.

“Plumbing up is very important in fishing, but it’s even more important when fishing paste,” said Gary. “The first thing I look for is a level and uniform bottom. It is no good trying to fish paste on a sloping bottom, as the paste will come off the hook and roll away, out of the swim.

“It’s vital to set the rig at dead-depth (the exact depth of the swim) as you will hit more bites and the paste won’t sink the bristle of the float at this depth.

“Fishing at dead-depth also helps to reduce the amount of foul hooked fish, where a fish swims into the line and causes a ‘false bite’ to register on the float.

“This can be one of the major problems when fishing with paste, as it really turns the fish on to the feed. The disadvantage of that is they go wild and will often swim into the line and cause a false indication.

“Unfortunately, you can’t really stop this happening, but the more you fish with paste the better you’ll get at distinguishing the false bites from the proper ones,” said Gary.

THE ADVANTAGES OF PASTE

As he started to tackle his swim Gary explained the reasons why paste baits are so good at this time of year.

Most obviously paste has instant appeal because it has no outer skin. Unlike a boilie or a pellet, a paste bait ‘activates’ the instant it hits the water, pumping out a slick of flavours and oils to attract the fish.

A well mixed, soft paste also has a texture fish like to eat, and if you use a big chunk it will also be an obvious target for a passing fish.

In fact Gary reckons it’s a bait that gives rapid results: “Bites are instant on paste - that’s what I like about it!” he said. “If fish are in the peg, look for a bite within minutes, if not seconds of lowering the bait in.

“If I’ve not had a bite after two or three minutes, I strike the paste off the hook, bring the rig in and re-bait with a fresh chunk. The beauty of this it that you are constantly topping up the swim as the session goes on.”

THE DISADVANTAGES OF PASTE

Despite its fish-catching ability paste does have a couple of drawbacks that do discourage some anglers from trying the bait.

The first problem many anglers meet is that the bait needs to be very soft to be at its best. This makes it difficult to use on rod and line as it tends to be flung off the hook when casting. It is a better bait for use on the pole.

Alternatively, you can use a stiff paste, moulding it around a bead, or paste cage, but in Gary’s opinion the hooking rates aren’t nearly as good with a firm paste. He prefers a soft bait, as it allows him to strike through it and straight into the fish’s mouth with nothing to impede it.

Another disadvantage is how time consuming it can be to produce the perfect paste. Many anglers who’ve experimented with making paste for themselves have found it very difficult. Lots of anglers have ended up with ruined bait that’s too hard or too soft!

Thankfully bait firms have now made many of the commercially available powdered paste products much more user friendly.

Some products have mixing instructions marked on the packet, while some paste powders even have a ‘water level’ printed on the packaging to direct you to mix the bait perfectly every time.

We’ve rated some of the ready-made pastes, see page 45 for our results. But these slight negatives don’t hide the fact that paste can catch more carp than any bait if you can perfect its use.

THE RIG TO USE WITH PASTE

Keep it simple is Gary’s advice when it comes to fishing with paste.

The first step is to select a float with a long, thick bristle that shows little dips of the float indicating a false bite and a longer stem to help make the float more stable in the water.

Always pick a float with a fibreglass or carbon stem rather than a wire one, these materials don’t bend like wire does.

The line Gary prefers is 7lb 8oz breaking strain (0.18mm) tied straight to the hook.

“I’m fishing for a large weight of big fish so the rig takes a lot of stick. Adding a hooklink would create a weak point,” he explained.

Gary’s shotting pattern was also simple with a bulk of number 8 shot halfway down the rig.

“There’s no need for sensitive dropper shots with this type of fishing as you are just looking for fast, positive bites,” said Gary.

“The bulk gets the bait on the deck quickly, where the fish are feeding.”

The rig was then completed with a strong size 14 Kamasan B911 hook.

“Always use a heavy-gauge carp hook when paste fishing,” Gary continued. “You’re doing a lot of ‘carp crunching’, so the hook needs to be able to cope with it,” he added.

THE SESSION

After plumbing up and cupping in a handful of 4mm pellets and a few chunks of G.O.T Baits Ton Up paste, Gary moulded a large chunk of paste around his hook, put it in a small pot attached to his pole, and shipped out.

Holding the pot just above the water, he then rotated the pole to drop the soft hookbait into the lake. After the float settled, it was just seconds before he had his first bite from a feisty 3lb Alders Farm carp.

Rebaiting, Gary shipped his rig back out into the water, eager to capitalise on this early success.

After fishing for 15 minutes, Gary had landed six carp, before the line went quiet – if you can call no bites for five minutes quiet!

To restart his peg Gary started flicking out a few pellets at minute intervals. He also began striking the paste off his hook if he hadn’t had a bite within two minutes.

“By striking the paste off the hook I’m constantly topping up the swim with free offerings,” said Gary.

Within 10 minutes of introducing the feed the carp reappeared and the pattern for the day was established.

Almost every put in saw Gary hook a fish of between 3lb and 8lb - the bait was usually taken within seconds of it hitting the lake bed.

After just four hours of angling and with his TWO giant keepnets already filled with fish, Gary had amassed a total haul approaching 200lb.

It was an incredible performance and gave clear evidence of how good paste is as a summer bait.

What’s more, with some of the modern commercial paste mixes reaching new heights of quality there has never been a better time to mould a piece round your hook.

If you’ve never tried it make the summer of 2006 your year of paste exploration - you won’t regret it!

Gary's top 5 paste tips

1. Take time getting the consistency of your paste right. It should be smooth, with no lumps and should just leave a slight residue on your fingers when you are handling it.

2. Keep it simple. There is no need for complicated rigs or shotting patterns when fishing with paste, let the bait do its job.

3. Try to fish as close in as possible. This makes soft paste a lot easier to fish.

4. Plumb the depth accurately using a plummet. The paste must sit perfectly on the bottom.

5. Feed regularly through the day. On commercial fisheries the fish are hungry, especially at this time of year, so you’ve got to keep some freebies going in on a little and often basis.

Making paste to catch chub, carp and barbel

Paste is a fantastic bait that is often neglected by anglers, often due to the fact that it can be quite difficult to hook, and keep on the hook. But, get it right and you can enjoy some absolutely enormous hauls of match-sized carp, and smash your personal best chub, barbel or carp.

Paste is basically a soft and pliable mixture of powdered and solid ingredients that can be moulded around the hook. Because the bait is moulded around the hook, the hook is invisible to the fish, making it quite easy to trick the fish into taking the bait.

The most difficult part of paste fishing is introducing the baited hook into your swim without the soft paste falling off the hook, but with a little ingenuity this can be overcome quite easily.

There are two main types of paste – those used by match anglers to catch many fish really quickly, and those used by specimen anglers to trick big fish into taking the bait.

Making a paste for commercial carp

Match anglers tend to use paste in conjunction with a pole, as poles allow the paste to be lowered gently into the swim, rather than cast it out. This means that the paste will remain on the hook better.

Paste for match fishing is really very simple indeed. Any finely ground fishmeal groundbait can be made into a paste in seconds, providing a simple, soft and highly effective carp bait.

Simply take a clean bait box, scoop up about half a cupful of water and add a little fishmeal groundbait. Mix it up thoroughly, and keep adding groundbait and mixing until you have a soft and sticky ball of paste. And that’s all there is to creating a great paste ideal for use on a pole rig on commercial carp waters.

Making a paste for river chub

This paste is a little trickier to make, a little more expensive, but it stinks to high heaven, sticks to the hook perfectly and helps catch some great chub.

Take a chunk of Danish Blue cheese and crumble it into a round mixing bowl. Sprinkle a little flour over the pieces and continue to break it up using our fingertips. Keep adding flour until the cheese resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Now is the time to add any colouring and additional flavour to the mix. A couple of drops of Supercook cake and icing colouring is perfect here, and it’s fairly cheap too.

Tip a couple of teaspoons of water over the mix and begin turning it over with a fork. The cheese, flavour, colour and flour will begin to bind. Keep mixing with the fork and adding very small quantities of water until the mix begins to ball-up. Now you will be able to get hold of the mix and knead it into a ball. This will distribute the colour evenly and soften the paste.

Once it’s thoroughly mixed through, divide the paste into suitable sized lumps to see you through a session, bag it securely and pop in the freezer until you need it.

This paste will last for years, and it can even be re-frozen a few times, and still catch chub!

Making a paste for big carp

By far the best paste to use when fishing with homemade boilies is simply a little of the leftover boilie mix which has been wrapped around the boilies itself. This will stick to the boilies perfectly, release a scent trail for a long time, and take ages to break down. But, not all carp anglers make their own boilies, so here’s what you can do…

Crack a couple of eggs into a round mixing bowl, add any colouring or flavourings you wish and then mix thoroughly using a fork. Now sprinkle a little finely ground carp groundbait into the eggs and continue mixing.

Keep adding the groundbait and mixing until the mix stiffens enough for it to be kneaded by hand. Knead it thoroughly to ensure all the crumbs absorb the moisture from the eggs and there you have it – a great specimen carp paste that can be moulded around a boilie, a pellet, meat, even a cork ball.

The eggs used in the mix will help bind this paste, ensuring that is takes a long time to break down once it hits the bottom.

Hooking paste

This is really very simple to do, regardless of whether you intend presenting the paste around the hook directly, or around a secondary bait such as a boilies or pellet.

Simply tear off a chunk of paste that will be large enough to wrap around your hook or bait. Flatten it slightly, but not too much. Now place your hook or bait onto the middle of the paste and gently fold the paste around.

Use your fingertips to carefully squash the paste until it forms either a teardrop shape, if you are moulding it around your hook, or a ball, if you are moulding it around another bait. And that’s all there is to it!